skippy the bush kangaroo

Friday, October 31, 2008

skippy's halloween nite music club

tho there's no topping the original by bobby "boris" pickett, we are proud tonite to feature...

the bonzo dog doo dah band - monster mash

starring the irrepressible, if late, viv stanshall as well as the second rutle, or sixth python, neil innes. check out the electric spoon solo towards the end. plus, extra super-duper bonus of the bonzo's version of sound of music tacked on at the end.

mask of the red death

forget gallup, quit qunnipac, never mind marist, here's the only poll that counts in a presidential election year: obama masks are outselling mcmuffin by a sizable margin:

but if mask sales were any indication of who voters — or at least costume buyers — would pick for president, then obama would have the edge, according to one costume company.

about 55 percent of those who bought paper candidate masks from www.buycostumes.com, picked up one for obama, while 45 percent bought one to impersonate mccain, according to the web site.

in michigan, 51 percent bought masks to impersonate democrats and 49 percent went for republicans.

jackson costume sellers said they have also noticed more interest in obama masks than those for mccain.

ellen yoakam, owner of the costume gallery, 4114 page ave., said the store just started receiving requests for presidential candidate costumes within the past few weeks. she said she has had more calls about obama masks than those for mccain — which the store does not sell.

halloween usa at jackson crossing has sold out of obama masks and has just a handful left for mccain.

but don't pop the corks just yet, dems...the biggest demand is for maggie o'connell costumes:

however, yoakam said the most calls for candidate costumes have been for republican vice presidential pick sarah palin.

the store does not have masks for the vice presidential candidates, but yoakam said she has suggestions for callers who want to create a vp candidate costume.

"we have a couple of wigs we have sold that work for sarah palin," yoakam said.

prop 8 is not enough

via politickybitch, here's a press conference (by the principal of and the parent of the school kid used) replying to the assertion by the christofascists that school kids were forced to go on a field trip to see gay marriage.

mad about mccain & palin not being ready for prime time

the hollywood freeway

congrats to our bloggy buddy - aquafornia

with their new collaboration...

i am proud to announce that aquafornia is now affiliated with the water education foundation. this partnership was formed because both aquafornia and the foundation strive for balanced, factual and comprehensive news and information about vital water issues. and like aquafornia, the foundation does not pick sides. - aquafornia

dirty trick or tainted treats?

white nose syndrome. no, not the "white nose syndrome" that affects the affluent in places such as hollywood, but a fungus, and scientists are scratching their heads on what to do.

researchers have gathered some clues to solve the mystery of what’s killing off hibernating bats throughout new england, but say they’re still far from knowing how to halt the strange die-off. - discover

"the fungus is in some way involved in causing the bats to starve to death," said biologist thomas tomasi of missouri state university in springfield. "they are burning up too many calories, at a rate faster than they can sustain."

..in some bat caves, more than 90% of the inhabitants died last winter. overall populations have declined about 75% in the affected areas. - latte times

"essentially, hibernating bats are getting moldy as they hang from their cave ceiling," david blehert, a microbiologist with the u.s. geological survey who led the study, said in a telephone interview.

"it's decimating the cave-bat populations," he said.

bats play a vital role in keeping down insect populations, pollinating plants and spreading around plant seeds. - reuters

yes on ate

what? us worry?

as we know, nobody can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory like the democrats. witness, oh, say, every election in recent memory (including the 2006 elections, where dems won, and then did absolutely nothing about it).

so when the mcmuffin campaign continually spouts feel good happy talk about their chances next tuesday, we admit we begin to get a little nervous. as slate sez, the mccain campaign is unusually upbeat, does it have reason to be?

with only five days left until election day, john mccain's campaign aides seem happier than they have been in a while. for the last few days, the campaign has been increasingly buoyed by what it says has been improvement in its internal polling of 14 battleground states. aides see a tightening race in states that are crucial to their long-shot march to 270 votes and victory. even mccain himself is upbeat. "he's been happy for the last few days," says one aide. "that's a change."...

the mccain path to victory relies heavily on the campaign's pollster, bill mcinturff, who is conducting surveys in battleground states every day. for the entire campaign, mccain aides say, mcinturff has often been a bit of a wet blanket. whenever they've felt good, he's been the voice of caution, explaining that the landscape was bleaker than they thought. recently, though, his internal campaign updates have actually been eagerly anticipated: the subject line of a recent one said "a memo you will want to read."…

mcinturff released a memo yesterday that outlined his case for why it's still possible for mccain to pull a rabbit out of his hat. here's what he sees: his poll of battleground states shows obama with such a small lead, it's within the margin of error, which means it's effectively tied. in iowa, he sees the race tightening to within a few points. in pennsylvania, it's in single digits (though that could mean nine). (the average of other pollsters say mccain is down by a dozen in iowa and pennsylvania.) moving toward mccain, say his aides, are women making less than $60,000 and white men with only some college education.

yikes! that's what we are afraid of! the mcmuffin camp knows something we don't! do they?

let’s start with the very important conclusion that obama’s tracking number, now 50 or 51 percent, is “what he gets.” first, let’s not disparage 50 percent, as no democrat has received that level of support since jimmy carter in 1976. the 3rd party candidates are polling about 3 or 4 percent - and showing about 2 points in our surveys of early vote tallies. that suggests that obama would win even if you gave mccain all other votes. but our data does not support the “obama gets what he gets” thesis.

the memo reports that obama is already getting virtually 100 percent of the african american vote in mccain’s polls. that is not true in our combined database of the presidential battleground states where obama is polling 89 to 6 percent. on that basis alone, one would expect obama’s overall vote to rise a point.

note that the same is true of latino voters. in special surveys of hispanics, using special lists, obama is polling close to 70 percent, but in the combined battleground polls where hispanic respondents are more acculturated and english-speaking, we have obama’s vote at 56 percent to 36 percent for mccain. that too can produce another point of obama support.

the memo says that the “undecided” and “refused” voters “will break decisively in our direction, adding a “net three plus points to our margin.” that is pretty amazing. using the combined database, we looked at the “undecided,” “refused” and the undecided “leaning” to a candidate - 7 percent of the electorate. using their stated leanings to the candidates and feelings toward the parties, this undecided vote broke near evenly between obama and mccain. in our latest presidential battleground poll, they broke near evenly as well. to get a 3-point net gain, the undecided would have to break 5 to 2 for mccain. there is no evidence to indicate such an impending break against obama. instead, the undecided could push obama’s vote up at least another point.

greenberg goes on to eviscerate mcinturff's key points, as well his misuse of english phrasing to create implications that are not sustainable in reality ("we are not entirely sure of the meaning of 'beginning to approach' and 'functionally tied' ").

in a nutshell, greenberg points out the problems w/mcinturff's assumptions, which turn out to be, in our opinion, the problems w/the gop's assumptions thru-out mcmuffin's campaign, and indeed, the last 12 years or so.

that is to say, by using straw men and logical fallacies to muddy the argument, they appear to win the argument. and, unfortunately for the gop, a whole generation of repubbbs have come to adulthood thinking that the appearance of winning the argument is the same as winning the arguement.

we are reminded of the wag that described the current administration as people who actually believe the stuff rush limbaugh says. this seems to be where the mcmuffin campaign is internally. they actually believe that the extrapolation of obama's losing a point or two in a poll here or there is the same as being "functionally tied," and so they are ecstactic.

which, when explained to us, makes us ecstatic. the reason they are so happy is because they are believing their own bs.

and trust us, it's bs. mcmuffin will have to bascially run the table next tuesday; that is to say, he'll have to win every battleground state, and perhaps even take a state or two away from obama to pull this off. or, in terms that mrs. skippy will relate to, he's drawn a ten and ace of hearts; he has to hope the flop turns up the jack, queen and king. of hearts.

why pets hate halloween

the chuck stops here

or rather at columbia and lauds obama.

today’s youth, he said, will have to address this “great confluence of issues” in light of the united states’ reputation abroad, which has weakened in recent years. He added that the next president will be tasked with restoring americans’ confidence in the government.

“one of the greatest challenges of our next president is to reintroduce america to the world, and i think obama and biden have the power to do that,” hagel said of the democratic presidential ticket of sens. barack obama (d-ill.), and joe biden (d-del.). “they both understand that we have lost so much standing in the world today. they want us to lead, and they want us to be strong. they don’t want an america that dictates.”

he cited “character” and “judgment” as requisites for any political candidate, and presented the choice of a running mate as a key indicator of the latter.

$14.83 billion profit

i "heart" this congresscritter

notice, however, his report is only a "partial" list.....

it's hardly hot news that nature has taken a beating over the past eight years. the bush administration has been relentless in its cynical march toward environmental calamity--from sacking honest scientists and trying to gut the endangered species act to weakening clean-water and air standards--all the while pushing for mineral and oil exploration on every square inch of our public lands.

what is new, however, is that someone has finally quantified this grim epoch of abuse.

on oct. 22, u.s.. rep. raúl grijalva released a report, compiled by his staff and subtly titled, "the bush administration assaults on our national parks, forests and public lands (a partial list)."- tucson weekly

denial of service

brought to you by the deny rights folks?

this is very preliminary right now, and we're still working on getting all of the details. that being said, it appears that the no on 8 website has been hit with some sort of attack coordinated with an attack on website opposing the constitutional amendment against marriage equality in florida, no on 2. - calitics

two polls walk into a bar

tho some say the polls are wrong (mainly, mcmuffin sez it), we are heartened by the new ap/gfk poll which has obama ahead or tied in key gop states:

the polling shows obama holding solid leads in ohio (7 percentage points), nevada (12 points), colorado (9) and virginia (7), all red states won by bush that collectively offer 47 electoral votes. sweeping those four — or putting together the right combination of two or three — would almost certainly make obama president.

it takes 270 electoral votes to win the white house. obama can earn 252 by merely reclaiming states won by john kerry in 2004. there are only two kerry states still in contention — pennsylvania with 21 votes and new hampshire with four — and ap-gfk polls show obama leading both by double digits.

in addition, obama is tied with mccain in north carolina and florida, according to the ap-gfk polling, two vote-rich states bush carried in 2004. obama is throwing his time and money into the sunshine state, which has 27 votes, part of a strategy to create many routes to victory and push toward a landslide of 300 or more electoral votes. north carolina has 15 votes.

independent polling suggests that new mexico and iowa, two traditionally gop states, are out of reach for mccain. other red states may be creeping away from him and into contention, including montana.

the bottom line: mccain must overtake obama in the many red states where he is trailing or tied — a tall order. or he needs to gain some breathing room by winning pennsylvania, where he trails by 12 percentage points, according to the ap-gfk poll.

happy anniversary dow jones

just in time for the 79th anniversary of black tuesday, the day the depression started. finding dulcinea:

during the late 1920s, the american stock market thrived as stock prices rose to unprecedented levels. american financial prosperity seemed certain. prices under what was called the great bull market soared, and americans began to withdraw their savings from banks and invest in the stock market. many also took out loans and mortgages in order to invest money in the thriving market. because the market held a massive amount of loans and borrowed money, it could only survive if stock prices continually rose.

[ed. note: think "mortgages."]

in september 1929, the dow jones industrial average peaked at 381 points, and then began to fall. the market fell consistently from september to october. as quickly as investors rushed into the market, they panicked and got out. the first day of panic was oct. 24, known as "black thursday," as 12.9 million shares of stock were traded. although millions of shares were sold, the market closed only six points down, as banks and investment companies rushed to buy back stock and prevent a more widespread panic.

attempts to salvage the market were unsuccessful. on oct. 28, 1929, now known as "black monday," the market closed down 12.8 percent.

“on black tuesday (october 29) more than 16 million shares were traded. the dow jones industrial average lost another 12 percent and closed at 198—a drop of 183 points in less than two months.” many prominent american companies and financial institutions collapsed, as their company stock became virtually worthless.

along with the market tumbles on the preceding thursday and monday, oct. 29, or black tuesday, was one of the dominoes that led to the great depression. the economy continued to suffer until 1933 when the new deal began to restore the integrity of the financial system.

meanwhile, systematic risk tells us jp morgan is warning of a global recession, calculated risk sees no good indicators that the credit market is thawing, bonddad thinks we're nowhere near a bottom in the housing market, and marginal revolution sez scientists have used a roll of scotch tape to take x-rays.

we were shakin' this morning

need a doctor?

even if you have insurance, you might not be able to see a doctor. they're opting out of the insurance ring around the billing and going to "boutique" service...and yes...at a price. a hefty price.

diana moore learned the news through the neighborhood grapevine. her family's primary-care physician of seven years would no longer accept moore, her husband and daughter as patients - unless the family paid a $4,500 annual fee.

the physicians at charter internal medicine in columbia are overhauling the practice, ditching the insurance-dependent model and instead charging a flat yearly fee in exchange for the promise of 24-hour access to doctors, unhurried appointments, home visits and state-of-the-art annual physicals. - baltimore sun

the chuck stops here

and defends the u.n. and questions mccain's "league of democracies."

but in order to solve problems you've got to have all the players at the table," hagel went on, his voice rising. "how are you going to fix the problems in pakistan, afghanistan--the problems we've got with poverty, proliferation, terrorism, wars--when the largest segments of society in the world today are not at the table?" he paused, then added, more calmly, "the united nations, as i've said many times, is imperfect. we've got nato, multilateral institutions, multilateral-development banks, the world trade organization--all have flaws, that's true. but if you didn't have them what would you have? a world completely out of control, with no structure, no order, no boundaries." - the newyorker via yglesias via the u.n. dispatach

the notion of “winning” in iraq is a “failed way of thinking,” hagel said. “if we frame this as win or lose, we’ll be there forever.” he added that this logic is equally flawed with respect to afghanistan. “i agree with obama that we’re going to have to put several more brigades in there,” he told me. “but there is no military solution, so we have to be very careful that somehow we don’t just ricochet out of iraq into afghanistan, with another hundred-and-fifty-thousand-troop buildup.” according to hagel, confronting the problems of afghanistan requires an understanding of its internal politics, its narcotics trade, and its endemic corruption, as well as a regional diplomatic approach, involving pakistan, india, and iran.

mccain “thinks we just need more military,” hagel said. “i’ve talked to john about this many times. i’ve said, ‘john, we’re limited. we’re doing tremendous damage to our army and marines, we can’t sustain this.’ ” - the new yorker

envirnmental news...special wednesday edition

just because you won't hear the environment mentioned during this presidential campaign.

burn pit at balad raises health concerns. an open-air “burn pit” at the largest u.s. base in Iraq may have exposed tens of thousands of troops, contractors and Iraqis to cancer-causing dioxins, poisons such as arsenic and carbon monoxide, and hazardous medical waste, documentation gathered by military times shows. -army times

bpa exposure linked to chemotherapy resistance. exposure to bisphenol a -- a man-made chemical found in a number of plastic products, including drinking bottles and the lining of food cans -- may reduce the effectiveness of chemotherapy treatments. - reuters health

utility's plan stirs coal-ash debate. on the banks of the great pee dee river, santee cooper wants to build a giant power plant that would consume 410 tons of coal every hour and generate electricity for 600,000 homes. that will generate huge volumes of ash--more toxic than ash from older plants. - charleston post and courier

troubling toll in thoreau's backyard. measuring the effect of climate change, scientists from boston university and harvard reported that 27% of the species documented at walden pond by henry david thoreau have disappeared, and another 36% are in such low numbers that their disappearance is imminent. - boston globe

arctic ice thickness 'plummets'. the thickness of arctic sea ice "plummeted" last winter, thinning by as much as 49 centimetres in some regions, satellite data has revealed. - bbc

marin property owners induced to go solar. gosolarmarin, the grassroots effort that succeeded in making solar energy systems available at a group rate to 100 property owners last year, has formed a new collaboration to outfit more properties with the energy alternative. marin independent journal

skippy's tuesday nite music club

rip tony hillerman

one of skippy's favorite authors, tony hillerman, died sunday at the age of 83.

tony wrote the always interesting joe leaphorn and jim chee mysteries. leaphorn and chee were characters who were both navajo indians on the reservation police force. washpost:

tony hillerman, 83, a new mexico writer who brought the police procedural into new territory with compelling novels set on the navajo reservation, died oct. 26 at presbyterian hospital in albuquerque of pulmonary failure.

the starkly beautiful reservation land, with its arching skies, desolate open spaces and its almost unearthly quiet, is an integral part of mr. hillerman's best-selling detective fiction. thematically vital to his work is the cultural discord between modern society and the proud, impoverished navajo, who call themselves the dineh.

the dineh world of nature and magic, of medicine ceremonies and the centuries-old weight of tradition has long been under assault by the dominant anglo culture. mr. hillerman's books reflect the conflict through his best-known protagonists, detectives with the navajo tribal police named lt. joe leaphorn and sgt. jim chee.

leaphorn, who is introduced in mr. hillerman's first novel, "the blessing way" (1970), is older and slightly more cynical than his younger counterpart. he understands the navajo way but does not share his people's traditional belief in a rich and mysterious spirit world.

the university-educated chee, who first appears in "people of darkness" (1980), more idealistic than leaphorn, is studying to become a hathaali, a navajo shaman.

"skinwalkers" (1986) was the first novel that brought leaphorn and chee together, and provided mr. hillerman his commercial breakthrough. the mystery involves three reservation murders linked only by bone fragments, and the two detectives combine their insights and approaches as they grapple with drugs and money originating in the anglo world as well as the shape-changing witches the navajo call skinwalkers.

we are not sure if tony was the first novelist to combine police procedurals and native american protagonists; he surely is among the best, and certainly the most recognizable.

a movie starring lou diamond phillips as leaphorn was made based on one of his books, which we remember fondly, tho it was generally considered a bomb.

you're a good man, charlie crist

this is a very big deal: florida governor charlie crist, to the shock and dismay of florida republicans, just moved to extend early voting hours, a move likely to widen the democrats' lead under a program on which the obama campaign has intensely focused.

"he just blew florida for john mccain," one plugged in florida republican just told me.

the buzz reports:

at a hastily arranged news conference, crist said the right to vote is sacred and that "many have fought and died for this right." he said he consulted a leading democratic legislator, rep. dan gelber of miami beach, before issuing his order, and that gelber knew of a similar order issued by gov. jeb bush in 2002 that dealt with helping voters deal with new equipment.

as to the perception that more early voting helps democrats, crist said: "this is not a political decision. this is a people decision."

from what we hear about gov. crist, he'd just love to blow florida, for anybody.[ed. note: don't go there.]

don't sweat it

as of this writing, obama's lead in the national tracking polls looks to be around five points (i get 5.5 when i average all six of the trackers i mentioned, along with the hotline and battleground trackers, which haven't changed much in the last few days). if that drops two-to-three points, as it easily could in a week, i don't think it's crazy to think mccain will have a shot at winning pennsylvania, virginia, and/or colorado. unlikely, yes, but not crazy. according to sites like real clear and pollster.com, obama's lead in those states is currently larger than his 5.5 point national lead (significantly so in pennsylvania). but, as i argued last week, the relationship between battleground-state numbers and national numbers can change significantly as we approach the finish, and those state averages you see could easily be a week out of date.

my immediate concern is twofold: that mccain is getting some traction with his liberal/socialist/redistributionist charge--the wapo tracker shows mccain narrowing the gap on the economy over the last week--and, in light of this, that obama is striking his high-note a few days too early. i'd feel more comfortable if he roughed mccain up a bit longer (though, in fairness, his "closing argument" speech is very good and it does take some swipes at mccain. also, it's not like the campaign isn't still running tough ads.).

note to the stump: you don't have to punctuate inside and outside of a closed paranthetical if you're using the same punctuation mark.

but beyond snarky self-righteousness from a blog that ironically doesn't use capitalization, we would also caution the stump to follow the advice of a couple of its commentors:

there is worrying over polls the right way, and there is worrying over polls the wrong way. the wrong way is to average only the trackers you trust on a daily basis. the right way is to check in on the pollster.com and rcp averages on an hourly basis.

but seriously . . . if you follow the poll averages at pollster.com and rcp, you will see that on 10/19, obama had an average lead of 5 points (obama 48.8, mccain 43.8). this actually went up over the following few days (the powell effect?) until, one week ago today, obama had a 7.2 lead, as obama went up to 5.2 and mccain went down to 43. on average, obama's nubmers have stayed up, in fact grown slightly. as of today (i'm still awaiting the last tracker, the wapo), obama is down slightly to a seven point lead, but both obama and mccain are higher--obama 50.6, mccain 43.6.

for the record, real clear politics poll averages page is here, and pollster.com is here.

you guys are overlooking one huge aspect of all this: early voting. obama leads by about ten points among those who have already voted, and that accounts for nearly twenty percent of registered voters, according to gallup. for mccain to make up that kind of deficit, he has to do much more than break even with obama on election day. mccain will have to beat obama by at least five points just to get back in the ballgame. and there's absolutely no evidence - none - that mccain can do that. especially when you factor in the massive turnouts we're already seeing and the incredibly wide gap in advertising dollars and the gotv effort between the two camps…

gallup poll daily tracking data collected through monday night indicate that 18% of registered voters who plan to vote have already voted, and another 15% say they will vote before nov. 4; so far the voter preferences of this early voting group are somewhat more tilted toward obama than those who say they will wait to vote on election day…

the voter preferences of the group of 1,430 individuals who have already voted and who were interviewed by gallup between oct. 17 and oct. 27 show a 53% to 43% obama over mccain tilt.

among the group of those who say they have not yet voted, but will before election day, the skew towards obama is more pronounced, at 54% to 40%. by comparison, those who are going to wait to vote on nov. 4 manifest a narrower 50% to 44% obama over mccain candidate preference. (across all registered voters over this time period, obama leads mccain by a 51% to 43% margin).

and pew sez:

just as ominous for the republican candidate, obama holds a 53% to 34% lead among the sizable minority of voters (15%) who say they have already voted. among those who plan to vote early but have not yet voted (16% of voters), 56% support obama, while 37% support mccain.

however, to be perfectly honest, we also believe the old addage: it ain't over till the fat lady sings.

old blackwater keep on rollin'

steveaudio, over @huffpo, points out the connection between the yes on prop 8 contingent and blackwater:

one thing they do point out is the presence of erik prince in this particular fight. remember him? the odious ceo of blackwater worldwide, responsible for deaths and atrocities in iraq:

another major proponent is elsa prince, a contributor to republican causes and candidates including mccain. prince, of holland, mich., gave $450,000 to support proposition 8. she's the mother of erik prince, founder of blackwater worldwide, the private firm that provides security in iraq.

mother and son sit on the board of a family foundation that donated $8 million in 2006-07 to christian groups involved in the yes-on-8 effort, including $300,000 to focus on the family, on whose board she sits. focus on the family gave $450,000 to proposition 8 and $1.35 million to the 22 same-sex marriage ban campaigns in 2004 and 2006.

swell. support segregation and discrimination, get a us government contract.

he lost us, too

if these traits appealed to me, they probably would have appealed to other independents, too. why, then, has mccain spent the past four months running away from them? the appointment of palin -- inspired by his closest colleagues -- turned out not to be a "maverick" move but, rather, a concession to those republicans who think foreign policy can be conducted using a series of cliches and those in his party who shout down the federal government while quietly raking in federal subsidies. although mccain has one of the best records for bipartisanship in the senate, he's let his campaign appeal to his party's extremes. though he is a true foreign policy intellectual, his supporters cultivate ignorance and fear: watch sean hannity's " barack obama and friends: a history of radicalism" on youtube if you don't believe me. worse, mccain has -- in a fatal effort to appeal to the least thoughtful, most partisan elements of his base -- moved away from his previous positions on torture and immigration. maybe that's all tactics, and maybe the "real" mccain will ditch the awful ideologues after nov. 4, if by some miracle he happens to win. but how can i know that will happen?

here's what i do know: i would give anything to rewrite history and make mccain president in 2000. but in 2008, i don't think i can vote for him. barack obama is indeed the least experienced, least tested candidate in modern presidential history. but at least if he wins, i can be sure that the mobs who cry "terrorist" at the sound of obama's name will be kept far, far away from the white house.

ok, seriously, what bob and most everyone here have not taken into account is the very real fact that most jouros are, unfortunately, human beings first, and objective journalists second (maybe even last).

as much as gore was a superior candidate to bush, he also was stand offish and unapproachable, at least compared to the folksy good ol' boy that bush pretended to be.

i remember watching the debates, and i was flabbergasted and disgusted that gore constantly sighed audibly and quite dramatically when bush said something untrue. it was quite immature and unprofessional of gore; it certainly wasn't humorous, and it made gore seem sanctimonious and self-righteous.

even tho bush was a moron and gore was right, nobody really likes a know-it-all. gore should have kept his sound effects to himself and went on to decimate bush's logic w/his own. (it reminded me of when bush the first was constantly looking at his watch during his debate w/clinton; you've got to look cool and collected and calm on these debates, not out of control in any way).

so the media, being self-centered little children, enjoyed bush's company and not gore, and unfortunately that really affected the coverage. good or bad, it's what happened.

fast-forward to today. most journos really admired mccain, and thought him to be quite honorable, especially compared to most politicians.

imagine their disappointment when mccain went sleazy, using the same slimeballs that destroyed his own run in 2000.

it's my learned opinion that one reason the press is not bending over backwards for the gop this year is for the very human (and unprofessional) reason that they are personally upset w/mccain for dipping into sleazy town and not being the honorable man they knew him to be.

the redistribution of wealth

is only bad, apparently, when "poor" people get a piece of the pie.

the gap between the nation's ceos and average workers is now ten times greater than it was a generation ago. and while bush's tax cuts shaved only a few hundred dollars off the tax bills of most americans, they saved the richest one percent more than $44,000 on average. in fact, once all of bush's tax cuts take effect, it is estimated that those with incomes of more than $200,000 a year -- the richest five percent of the population -- will pocket almost half of the money. those who make less than $75,000 a year -- eighty percent of america -- will receive barely a quarter of the cuts. in the bush era, economic inequality is on the rise.

...so where did all the economic growth go? it went to a relative handful of people at the top. the earnings of the typical full-time worker, adjusted for inflation, have actually fallen since bush took office. pay for ceos, meanwhile, has soared -- from 185 times that of average workers in 2003 to 279 times in 2005. and after-tax corporate profits have also skyrocketed, more than doubling since bush took office. those profits will eventually be reflected in dividends and capital gains, which accrue mainly to the very well-off: more than three-quarters of all stocks are owned by the richest ten percent of the population. - prof. paul krugman in the rolling stone

so the whacked out right is foaming at the mouth because they fear "redistribution of wealth" and calling obama a socialist. what do they have to say about awol's "redistribution of wealth" that actually undermines america and it's future?

senator stevens can't vote for himself

on november 4. he's a convicted felon.

a federal jury on monday found republican sen. ted stevens guilty on seven counts of lying about thousands of dollars of gifts and home renovations on his financial disclosure forms, a verdict that ended in disgrace the four-decade senate career of a man whose imprint on alaska dates to before its statehood. - mcclatchy

get fingerprints off these flyers

and bring some serious lawsuits against those responsible for this dirty trick. this is completely unamerican.

the virginia pilot reports today that a phony virginia board of elections flier is being distributed in hamption roads, va telling democrats that they are now scheduled to vote on november 5. the flier falsely claims that “an emergency session of the general assembly” adopted a new voting schedule to “ease the load” at polling places on election day - think progress

bush "hearts" pollution

and is trying his best to trash america's air quality before he leaves.

at the bush administration's direction, the environmental protection agency is working on a new rule that would weaken pollution regulations for power plants, allowing them to increase emissions without adding controls. epa officials have been working on a fast track to meet a saturday deadline, but many of them are arguing against changing the rule, said former epa attorney john Walke and an epa career official who spoke only on the condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to make statements.

...power companies have sought the rule about power plant emissions for many years, and it was part of vice president dick cheney's 2001 energy plan. rules finalized more than 60 days before the administration leaves office are harder for the next administration to undo.- mcclatchy

dozens of call center workers walk

instead of spread "hate talk."

some three dozen workers at a telemarketing call center in indiana walked off the job rather than read an incendiary mccain campaign script attacking barack obama, according to two workers at the center and one of their parents.

nina williams, a stay-at-home mom in lake county, indiana, tells us that her daughter recently called her from her job at the center, upset that she had been asked to read a script attacking obama for being "dangerously weak on crime," "coddling criminals," and for voting against "protecting children from danger." - talking points memo election central

the bourne again identity

*** palin as jason bourne? the big political intrigue over the weekend was the politico story noting that palin had “gone rogue” -- ignoring the mccain campaign’s advice, as well as seeming to break with mccain on a few issues (like raising jeremiah wright and the campaign’s decision to give up on michigan). and then a mccain adviser said this to cnn: "she is a diva. she takes no advice from anyone. she does not have any relationships of trust with any of us, her family or anyone else. also, she is playing for her own future and sees herself as the next leader of the party. remember: divas trust only unto themselves, as they see themselves as the beginning and end of all wisdom." wow. of course, tension between the running mate -- who is looking out for his/her political future -- and the principal’s campaign is nothing new. (see edwards, john.) but what is new is how this has become public consumption before election day. (we didn’t really know about the kerry-edwards tension until after the campaign?) no doubt palin is looking out for her political future after this campaign. the question is whether this tension ends up damaging her for 2012…

we here at skippy international don't see maggie o'connell as a driving force in the gop after this election, mainly because we doubt strongly if there'll be a gop after this election...

the new middleclass

homeless.

across the nation in recent months, shelters and government agencies have seen a sharp increase in the number of homeless middle-class professionals and families.

in los angeles county - the nation's homeless capital - advocates say they are seeing real-estate agents, lawyers, business owners, pre-med students and other highly educated people losing their jobs and becoming homeless.

the burbank temporary aid center has experienced a 66 percent increase in requests for assistance in the last 18months, executive director barbara howell said. about half of those seeking help are middle-class people experiencing homelessness for the first time. - latte time

protecting the planet. ss the seemingly endless presidential campaign season winds down, attention has focused on bread-and-butter issues: the economy, jobs, taxes, health care. no one is uttering a word about clean air, water, land conservation, global warming, endangered species. gainesville times

europe's secret plan to boost gm crop production. gordon brown and other european leaders are secretly preparing an unprecedented campaign to spread gm crops and foods in britain and throughout the continent, confidential documents reveal. - london independent

palin pipeline terms curbed bids. gov. sarah palin's signature accomplishment - a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from alaska to the lower 48 - emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an associated press investigation shows. - ap

where have the orcas gone? the disappearance of seven orcas from b.c. coastal waters is being blamed on a "double whammy" of low chinook salmon numbers and toxins being dumped in the ocean. - vancouver province,

saving the working class with green-collar jobs. van jones, a charismatic 40-year-old yale law school grad who has emerged as a major green star over the past year, argues that environmentalism won't just be about the environment anymore. - time magazine

use the google

to find out where your polling place is or how to contact your elections office.

are you registered to vote? what's the best way to obtain an absentee ballot? when people visit the site, answers to these questions appear. and anyone with a website can provide the same information. the us voter info gadget places a simple search box that expands to show a full set of voter information when someone enters an address.

penn. gop sends out email to jewish voters

the slime and desperation coming from the mccain camp is truly horrifying. if felt for mccain and his family when the bush camp used those slimey tactics against him in the 2000 race. for him to hire those same smear monsters to do the same sort of thing to obama is unforgiveable.

senator mccain....just say "no!" to these tactics. just stop the slime.

sarah palin is a celebrity

and she's got her own fancy schmancy "celebrity makeup artist", who is paid more than mccain's foreign policy advisor. now we know what this ticket values the most. appearance.

an acclaimed celebrity makeup artist for sarah palin collected more money from john mccain’s campaign than mccain’s foreign policy adviser.

amy strozzi, who also works on the reality show “so you think you can dance,” was paid $22,800, according to campaign finance reports for the first two weeks in october. in contrast, mccain’s foreign policy adviser, randy scheunemann, was paid $12,500, the report showed. - ajc

their state's gov is running for veep

but the anchorage daily news goes and supports obama for president.

gov. palin's nomination clearly alters the landscape for alaskans as we survey this race for the presidency -- but it does not overwhelm all other judgment. the election, after all is said and done, is not about sarah palin, and our sober view is that her running mate, sen. john mccain, is the wrong choice for president at this critical time for our nation.

sen. barack obama, the democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office. in a time of grave economic crisis, he displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, steady hand. the same cannot be said of sen. mccain.

since his early acknowledgement that economic policy is not his strong suit, sen. mccain has stumbled and fumbled badly in dealing with the accelerating crisis as it emerged. he declared that "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" at 9 a.m. one day and by 11 a.m. was describing an economy in crisis. he is both a longtime advocate of less market regulation and a supporter of the huge taxpayer-funded wall street bailout. his behavior in this crisis -- erratic is a kind description -- shows him to be ill-equipped to lead the essential effort of reining in a runaway financial system and setting an anxious nation on course to economic recovery. - adn.com

it's breeder's cup day

starving orcas?

first we've been seeing "boney" whales...and now orcas?

showing signs of starvation as salmon runs faltered up and down the west coast, puget sound's orca population lost seven of its number over the past year, bringing the population to just 83, anxious scientists reported friday.

the development marks the biggest reduction in the orca population since a series of bad chinook salmon seasons in the 1990s battered the killer whales' numbers.

revealing the degree to which the orcas are interrelated to a far-flung marine ecosystem, the collapse of california's sacramento valley chinook run seems likely to be partly to blame for declining killer whale numbers, said ken balcomb, founder of the center for whale research on san juan island.

the same fishery collapse off the california and oregon coasts shut down salmon fishing this year for humans, too. - seattle pi

red carpet for hockey mom

takes out blues hockey player.

blues goalie manny legace left after one period friday night with a hip injury that occurred when he slipped on the carpet placed on the ice for republican vice presidential candidate sarah palin. ap via yahoo sports

quote of the day

after reading belinda luscombe's article why some women hate sarah palin , i will not be renewing my subscription to time. it was illuminating to learn that luscombe and time believe the only reason i, as a woman, could dislike a female politician--a politician who is laughably inarticulate and ill-informed, has almost no credentials, and seems have entered politics only to punish her enemies, give her friends cushy jobs, and curtail her fellow citizens' freedoms--is because i'm a catty overgrown schoolgirl who hates how gosh-darn pretty she is, you betcha. thanks for letting me know that you feel women are incapable of forming opinions about candidates based on their positions and public behavior rather than how they wear their hair. were i to continue to read your magazine, i'd look forward to the follow-up article opining that men who vote against obama are just jealous of his adorable ears.

given time's low opinion of me and other women, my opinion of time is currently unprintable. i'm sure i can find another magazine more deserving of my subscription.

repubs have already planned to attack iran

a republican charged with representing the views of presidential candidate sen. john mccain told dominican university students thursday that war with iran in the next four years is inevitable.

..."let me assure you of this," [william] grayson said after the student presentation on foreign policy. "the next president, whether it is senator obama or john mccain, will go to war, and he will go to war with iran. - marin independent journal

aye, chihuahua!

foreclosures are up...and so are the numbers of abandoned chihuahuas.

...in santa barbara county, where three rescue shelters are housing a veritable glut of abandoned chihuahuas. so many, in fact, that shelter managers are concluding a weeklong "adopt-a-chihuahua" campaign.

...most were brought to county animal shelters as strays or were dropped off by owners who are moving or who can no longer afford to keep them, glick said. high rents, rampant foreclosures and rising costs of pet food and veterinary care have dampened the popularity of the once-hip pooch, shelter operators say. - latimes

if it can happen here in america's riviera, the beverly hills chihuahua might start worrying. forget about "quiero taco bell"...."necesito una casa" might be the next talking chihuahua's catch phrase.

our thoughts and prayers are with obama

...0bama described dunham as the daughter of a midwest oil company clerk who "taught me values straight from the kansas heartland“ – things like "accountability and self-reliance. love of country. working hard without making excuses. treating your neighbor as you’d like to be treated.“ - weltonline

Thursday, October 23, 2008

skippy's thursday nite music club

would jesus use blackmail?

apparently those backing the "gays are icky and evil and will break up marriages everywhere for just being gay" proposition on the california ballot (prop 8) think that it's the christian (or mormon) thing to use blackmail.

leaders of the campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in california are warning businesses that have given money to the state's largest gay rights group they will be publicly identified as opponents of traditional unions unless they contribute to the gay marriage ban, too.

...the letter was signed by four members of the group's executive committee: campaign chairman ron prentice; edward dolejsi, executive director of the california catholic conference; mark jansson, a member of the church of jesus christ of latter-day saints; and andrew pugno, the lawyer for protectmarriage.com.- sfgate

the letter from yes on 8 came by certified mail, demanding at least $10,000. jim abbot knows exactly why he's being targeted - his business gave $10,000 to a group called equality california, which supports no on prop 9. - news8 sandy eggo

y'all come back now, ya hear?

be sure the aig execs have some grape kool-aid at their spa retreat, too

sadly, no! imagines how the poor people demanding sub-prime loans forced the economic crisis on us all:

angry black man: gimme my loan!

terrified banker: please calm down, sir. i can’t punch in the numbers when my hands are trembling from fear.

abm: shut up, bee-yatch! you best type in dat numberology and get me dat money!

tb: it’s done, sir. your loan is approved.

abm: damn straight, muh-fuggah. now listen up. white boy, and listen good! while you at it, you best be swapping derivatives based on the outstanding debt package i’s just provid-o-lated you wif, and den you kin jus’ leverage dem addition-a-mated paper holdings anutha couple dozen times just to be sho’ you getting all de cash-money juice you can while da gettin’s good, so’s we all happy in this here financialical trans-mogrifa-taction!

tb: but … but, sir! that would be a most irresponsible dereliction of this firm’s fiduciary duties! and it would likely lead to economic disaster!

abm: honkey, you best be doing what i done tol’ you to do wif regards to yo fiducia-malogical duties, or i will have b-frank da funky fixah on yo’ gofay ass like white on rice!

tb: i see. well, excellent advice, sir! will you be requiring a $100,000 credit line today, too?

abm: casper, please! hells yeah i be needing that credit line!

honestly, folks, how many times do we have to tell you, fannie mae and freddie mac were not the names of the kids on good times!

jellyfish force closure of nuclear power plant

in an unusual event, a swarm of jellyfish has clogged the cooling water intake structure at diablo canyon nuclear power plant, forcing operators to take one reactor offline and reduce the other to half power.

plant operators shut the unit down at 8:51 p.m. tuesday after a large number of moon jellies entered the intake cove and impaired the ability of pumps to circulate enough cooling water through the system. - san luis obispo tribune

shop, baby, shop

that's just what some bloggers at the latte times did.

what $75,062 will buy you at neiman marcus. we just got done going on his and hers online shopping sprees at neiman marcus' website, where we each managed, after an undisclosed number of hours, to spend $75,062*, the precise amount that palin et al. spent there. - webscout

but if you don't have that kind o' "bank" to toss around (like, really, what normal working person does...) you can enjoy the "infamous" neiman marcus chocolate chip cookie.

an urban myth is a modern folk tale, its origins unknown, its believability enhanced simply by the frequency with which it is repeated. our signature chocolate chip cookie is the subject of one such myth. if you haven't heard the story, we won't perpetuate it here. if you have, the recipe below should serve to refute it. copy it, print it out, pass it along to friends and family. it's a terrific recipe. and it's absolutely free. - neiman marcus.

shouldn't there be a law

against a "government" report being written by an industry that has a financial stake in the outcome of that report?

a government report claiming that bisphenol a is safe was written largely by the plastics industry and others with a financial stake in the controversial chemical, the journal sentinel found.

although the food and drug administration will not reveal who prepared its draft, the agency's own documents show that the work was done primarily by those with the most to gain by downplaying concerns about the safety of the chemical.- jsonline

oh....no....we're on fire again....

a fire was burning in the sepulveda pass this morning, prompting the closure of the 405 freeway as hundreds of firefighters defended the getty center and neighborhoods in the hills of brentwood - latte times

forget the binging...

in some places...it's all about the purging.

before mississippi’s march presidential primary, one county election official improperly removed more than 8,000 voters from the eligible-voter rolls, including a republican congressional candidate. fortunately, the secretary of state’s office learned of the purge in time and restored the voters.

...if voters find on election day that their names are not on the rolls, they should contact a voters’ rights group like election protection, at 1-866-our-vote, or a political campaign, which can advocate for them. - nytimes

the heaviest endorsement so far...al qaeda backs mcmuffin!

well, if you can't get colin powell, you might as well get osama bin laden.

the asspress is reporting that an al qaeda-sponsored website backs mcmuffin for prez:

al-qaida supporters suggested in a web site message this week they would welcome a pre-election terror attack on the u.s. as a way to usher in a mccain presidency.

the message, posted monday on the password-protected al-hesbah web site, said if al-qaida wants to exhaust the united states militarily and economically, "impetuous" republican presidential candidate sen. john mccain is the better choice because he is more likely to continue the wars in iraq and afghanistan.

"this requires presence of an impetuous american leader such as mccain, who pledged to continue the war till the last american soldier," the message said. "then, al-qaida will have to support mccain in the coming elections so that he continues the failing march of his predecessor, bush."

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